The Formation of The Marathi Language

Foreword

The present work had been published in French, under the title La formation de la langue marathe, in 1920, by Jules Bloch. It immediately got a great success and the edition was soon out of print. The Marathi language had since long been described in several grammars. An elaborate dictionary of this language had been published at Bombay as early as in 1831 by T. Molesworth assisted by George and Thomas Candy. A second edition of the same, revised and enlarged by J. T. Molesworth, appeared in 1857. This work was very comprehensive and careful and till now remains authoritative. In the Linguistic Survey of India, the chapter dealing with the Marathi language, prepared by Sten Konow, had been published in 1905. Much material for a comparative grammar of the Indo-Aryan languages of India had already been collected. But the work of Jules Bloch was the first systematical undertaking to coordinate all the data and to understand the evolution from Sanskrit through Prakrit and Apabhramsa to Old—Marathi and from the Old—Marathi to the modern one.

Jules Bloch had been specially equipped to undertake such a task. After getting a general training in Indo-European linguistics with linguists like Antoine Meillet and indologists like Sylvain Levi, he had been appointed in 1908 as a member of Ecole francaise d’Extréme—Orient. In this capacity he studied in India both in the field of dravidology and in the field of Marathi. Marathi has been sometimes in the past considered as dravida. That was wrong from the linguistic point of view, but, as Marathi has developed in contact with neighbouring Telugu and Kannada, it has been influenced, at Least in its vocabulary, by these Dravidian language. Jules Bloch conducted his studies in Tamil and dravidology for a fuller knowledge of Indian linguistics and not only in connexion with his Marathi studies, but his double competence in Indo- Aryan and Dravidian languages, enabled him to properly place the Marathi language in its whole environment.

The special Marathi studies of Jules Bloch had been done at Poona in close contact with scholars like Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar. The fruit has been this book. Later, Jules Bloch produced two other books: L’Indo—aryen du Veda aux temps moderns (Paris, 1934) and Structure grammaticale des langues dravidiennes (Paris, 1946). Both have been translated into English. The first one, Indo-Aryan from the Vedas to modern times, has been largely revised by Jules Bloch himself and translated by Dr. Alfred Master (Paris, Adrien Maisonneuve, 1965). The other one The Grammatical Structure of Dravidian languages has been translated in English by Dr. Ramkrishna Ganesh Harshe and published by Dr. S. M. Katre for the Deccan College, Poona.

The need for the translation of the oldest—one e,i.e. on the formation of Marathi, from French into English, was therefore greatly felt by Indian students who rarely have a proficiency in Western languages other than English. Dr. Dev Raj Chanana undertook the translation with full competence and devotion. He had just completed the task when his premature and sudden death snatched him from his family, his friends and the Held of indology itself.

Thanks to our common friend Shambhu Datt Sharma, who kindly took care of the printing, the book is now at the disposal of the scholars.

Copies of the original text were very rare and wanted. Now, in the present English version, this historical work is available again just half a century after its first publication.

PREFACE

It is my very sad duty to write a. few lines by way of a preface to this book. My husband, Dr. Dev Raj Ghanana, who most painstakingly translated this book by Mr. Jules Bloch, passed away in May 1968, soon after finishing this work.

I am extremely grateful to Prof Jean Filliozat, Chaire de Langues et Litteratures de 1’ inde, College de France, Paris, my husband’s guide and mentor, for writing the Foreword to the book. I have no words to thank Mr. Shambhu Datt Sharma, a research-student of Dr. Dev Raj Ghanana, for his invaluable help in getting the book printed. My thanks are also elm: to Dr. Romila Thapar, Reader in History, University of Delhi Mrs. R. A. Menon, Reader in Economics, University of Delhi, and Dr. L. Rai for their valuable help at various stages.

My thanks also to Madame Bloch and Madame Caillat of France.

About the Book:

The Present work is the English rendering of La formation de la Langue Marathe - a well-known work by Jules Bloch. The Original French version was the first systematic undertaking to coordinate data on Marathi language, - tracing its evolution and development through various stages - from Sanskrit, Prakrit and Apabhramsa. Jules Bloch was expert in Dravidian languages, specially Tamil and had studied Indo-Aryan languages. He was therefore competent to undertake the study of Marathi language and place it in its whole environment. It is not surprising that the results of his studies stand challenged even half a century after the Publication of his work.

The English version needs no apology. It owes its origin to the long-felt need of Indian scholars who rarely know a Western language other than English. The work is a faithful representation of the original and is sure to meet the demands of the reader. While it benefits the reader it stands as the lasting monument to the writer who passed away soon after finishing the work.

CONTENTS Foreword
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
    The Sanskrit - The middle-Indian Inscriptions, Pali, Jaina texts, Northern Buddhist texts, Classical Prakrits (comparison with the Hindustani), General characteristics of middle-Indian; The modern-Indo-Aryan languages, Relationship with the middle-Indian group, The Apabhramsa, The Marathi

Bibliography

Phonetics-Generalities,

Vowels

Alterations depending on the place of vowels in the word.
    Accent - Final Vowels ; As penultimate Syllables, Before the penultimate Syllable, As the initial Syllable, Inside the word
Prakrit Vowels in Contact, Insertion of y and v, Diphthongs, Contraction

Nasal Vowels

Chart of Marathi Vocalism

Consonants.
     Occulsives; Occulsives following a nasal, Aspiration and Deaspiration of occulasives, Other changes, Chart of Marathi occulsives, Gutturals, Paltatals and s arising from ch, ks; Old cerebrals, Treatment of r+dental; Spontaneous cerebralisation; Dentals; Labilas, Treatment of dental+v

Nasals
Liquids
Aspirate; Note on y
Sifflant
Aspirate;

The word
    Phonemes in contact; Distant action: Vocalic Infection; Metathesis; anticipation of aspiration; dissimilation; Syllabic superposition. End and the beginning of word

Morphology. Generilities, Loss of dual

Declension, Stems, genders, case

Group: Direct case, oblique case in nouns terminating in consonants, in those terminating in a vowel

Traces of other old Terminations: instrumental, locative, ablative

Postpositions, sim, sathim, stav, tem, la, lagim, nem; Adjectives of belonging, called "genetive"

Relatives, Demonstratives, Interrogatives, etc., Personal pronouns

Numerals

Conjugation, Strong and weak stems, Stem of present, Stems of Past-Participle, Causative, Potential, Passive

Inflexion, Old Tenses: Past of habitude (old present), Imperative, Modern creations: Future; Participial tenses; Present-conditional; Past; Tenses of obligation and Potential.

Impersonal Forms of the Verb. Present Participle; Past Participle; Participle of obligation, Future Participle, Composite tenses, Auxilliaries, Passive Periphrastic, Absolute Forms from Participles, Verbal noun and Infinitive

The Sentence. Nominal and Verbal sentences. Accord of the Adjective to the enlargement. Order of the words. Subordination,

Conclusion. Place of Marathi in the Indo-Aryan group

Appendix. Note on Certain Documents of Old Marathi

Etymological Index

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